Ancient Aztec

Ancient Aztec - Page Text Content

BC: Thanks for Reading!

FC: Ancient Aztec By B. Balzer

1: Table of Contents Beginning of Aztec..................................2 End of Aztec.........................................3 Rulers................................................4 Government and law..............................6 Social Classes.......................................8 The City-states.....................................9 Food................................................10 Bibliography.......................................12

2: The Beginning It all happened in the 1200's as the Aztec's were trying to find a home in The Valley of Mexico. Most of the good land was taken by others. Therefore they found safety in building their civilization first on an island in Lake Texcoco. This became the great city of Tenochtitlan. That is how it all got started. But now it's all history.

3: The Ending Aztec civilization had to end some day and it did. Cortes and his men attacked the Aztec civilization while riding huge horses. The warriors were armed with crossbows and heavy swords. But not only did Cortez's men wipe out more than half the Aztecs, they also brought a killer disease which killed the rest of the Aztecs and ended their civilization forever.

4: Rulers Some of the rulers were..... Acamapichtli 1376-1396 1st ruler that built a lot of the first cities and won many battles. Ahuitzotl 1486-1502 Was the 8th ruler and known as a fierce warrior. He rebuilt the Great Temple and sacrificed 20 - 80,000 people at the opening ceremony. Moctezuma Xocoyotzin 1502-1520 Last great Aztec ruler, led many successful military battles. He died defending against the Spanish.

5: Look at this cool picture!

6: Government and Law The Aztecs had a government and laws like us but they were different. The Aztecs founded a strong, secure and central type of government. This helped provide stability, and allowed the empire to do good. At the top of this government was the royal family, led by an emperor or king. This is called a monarchy. Some crime was overlooked, but most crime was punished with death. The nobles were supposed to set example so they got a harsher punishment. Their government was an oligarchy and polytheism was their religion. Oligarchy is a form of government that leads as a monarchy but takes over another by force. Polytheism is where you believe in many gods.

8: Social Classes The nobles were at the top of the social class in Aztec society. They were the government leaders, military leaders, high-ranking priests and landowners. Commoners Most of the people were the commoners. They included farmers, low-ranking priests, merchants, and artisans. Slaves Aztec slaves were set apart from the others. They became slaves by being sold/bought, caught as prisoners in war, or as punishment for crime or if they couldn't pay their taxes.

9: The Cities and the States Three city-states; Tenochtitlan, Texcoco, and Tlacopan. These city-states ruled the Valley of Mexico until the Spanish took over.

10: Aztec Food Aztec had many different foods. Some of them are maize (corn), tomatoes, avocados, tamales, beans, squash and chocolate. Yum, chocolate!